There is one player whose stats are really very good yet we tend to rate him below his contemporaries because of a limited look at the aggregate statistics.

No one denies that Frank Worrell was a world class batsman but it is a tendency by a majority of cricket fans to rate him, as a batsman, below the other two 'W's basically because of their career figures which read as under :-

By any and every criteria, the stats appear to show Worrell's performance with the bat as being inferior to that of his illustrious colleagues. This is not borne out by a closer look at these figures.

While all three of them made their debut in the same year ,1948, they did not play all the series together. Worrell, particularly was unable to play in a few series, mostly because of his personal reasons - generally academic. Plus while Weekes retired in 1958 and Walcott in 1960, Worrell played till 1963 mainly because West Indies needed him to lead them as the first ever black captain of the West Indian cricket team.

The three series that Worrell missed were against the then minnows of Test cricket ;-

Walcott and Weekes were absolute butchers on the home tracks which in those years were as true batting wickets as you could get anywhere in the world. However, when playing away from home, these two were reduced to more mortal figures. Here is how the three W's fared at home and away during this period.

The difference is too stark to require any comment and shows the relative batting strengths of the three in true light.

As I have always maintained, statistics rarely tell you everything although you can see a bit (just a bit) more out of them if you are willing to look a bit more carefully.

I had always, as a youngster been amazed at how much Worrell's batting was written in glowing terms while the same were not used for his two contemporaries. Then came internet and the ease with which one could look at all statistics in far greater detail and one saw the difference even in the figures - although by all accounts, Worrell's fabulous batting was difficult to capture in numbers.

Still give Walcott massive props for what he did to Lindwall and Miller in '55, regardless of where they played. Great and under rated batsman.

Chanderpaul's stat's are mostly irrelevant for mine. If he batted like Weekes, Worrell, or Walcott then he would be in my Top 5 West Indian batsman for sure. But unfortunately his style is just plain ugly, and I can't put that out of my mind. The only other batsman that I can think of that is less pleasing to watch is Andrew Hilditch. While Chanderpaul stands completely chest-on to the bowler and shuffles like a crab, Hilditch used to stand arse-on to the bowler and twist his neck about180 degrees so he could see the ball coming. How he managed to play any on-drives was a complete mystery to me.

For me sport is just as much about 'art' as it is about stat's and winning.

Or to put it another way, I'd rather watch Brazil play a 0-0 draw using 'beautiful football', than watch England grind out' a 4-nil win by merely banging the long-ball up-field from the half-way line.

And incidently, if Victor Trumper or Archie Jackson batted like Chanderpaul we'd all be saying, "Victor and Archie who???" because they would have disappeared out of peoples imagination by now.

Thats true Watson and its a good point. I would add that if Trumper or Jackson played beautifully but didn't score many we wouldn't recall them either. The art will get you remembered but runs get you selected in the 1st place.

My rules are - Specialist batsmen have to bat left handed and cannot bowl if they are right arm bowlers. Specialist bowlers have to be left arm bowlers, but are allowed to bat right handed. All rounders must be lefties in both capacities, otherwise can only be used for batting. Left arm bowling all rounders who batted right handed are not allowed here.

Closest: Bill Lawry, Warren Bardsley, Bert Ironmonger. I chose Johnson over Ironmonger because Ironmonger was a slow medium bowler whose efficacy I have doubts over. J J Ferris wasn't considered because he played for both England and Australia.

Closest: Marcus Trescothick, Maurice Leyland, Hedley Verity. I could have had an English attack with 3 spinners and Verity is definitely better than Sidebottom, but I felt there needed to be another pacer, and there wasn't anybody apart from Sidebottom and Mullaly.

Closest: Chris Gayle, but since he cannot bowl, Chanderpaul was a better option to open. Bowlers very hard to come by in this line-up, so I had Sobers batting at 7, as he is probably the best pace bowler on this list and would have to bowl a lot. Otherwise he would be my number 3.

Notes: Had to choose one between Prince, Duminy and Rudolph. Brett Schultz could have been something really special, and Lee Irvine is the only Wicket-Keeper available. Trevor Goddard lends good balance to the side.

Notes: First cheat here as could not find a left handed wicket-keeper for Pakistan. If anyone knows of somebody, do update. Also, if Mohammad Amir is unacceptable, then Junaid Khan would be a suitable replacement.

My rules are - Specialist batsmen have to bat left handed and cannot bowl if they are right arm bowlers. Specialist bowlers have to be left arm bowlers, but are allowed to bat right handed. All rounders must be lefties in both capacities, otherwise can only be used for batting. Left arm bowling all rounders who batted right handed are not allowed here.

Closest: Bill Lawry, Warren Bardsley, Bert Ironmonger. I chose Johnson over Ironmonger because Ironmonger was a slow medium bowler whose efficacy I have doubts over. J J Ferris wasn't considered because he played for both England and Australia.

Closest: Marcus Trescothick, Maurice Leyland, Hedley Verity. I could have had an English attack with 3 spinners and Verity is definitely better than Sidebottom, but I felt there needed to be another pacer, and there wasn't anybody apart from Sidebottom and Mullaly.

Closest: Chris Gayle, but since he cannot bowl, Chanderpaul was a better option to open. Bowlers very hard to come by in this line-up, so I had Sobers batting at 7, as he is probably the best pace bowler on this list and would have to bowl a lot. Otherwise he would be my number 3.

Notes: Had to choose one between Prince, Duminy and Rudolph. Brett Schultz could have been something really special, and Lee Irvine is the only Wicket-Keeper available. Trevor Goddard lends good balance to the side.

Notes: First cheat here as could not find a left handed wicket-keeper for Pakistan. If anyone knows of somebody, do update. Also, if Mohammad Amir is unacceptable, then Junaid Khan would be a suitable replacement.

Interesting concept. I think you should make a separate thread for these

And smalishah's avatar is the most classy one by far Jan certainly echoes the sentiments of CW

Yeah we don't crap in the first world; most of us would actually have no idea what that was emanating from Ajmal's backside. Why isn't it roses and rainbows like what happens here? PEWS's retort to Ganeshran on Daemon's picture depicting Ajmal's excreta

Harsh.skm. For your Eng team I suggest punting Sidebottom for FR Foster.

Good suggestion man I opened a separate thread for this though, so I think we should take this there. The only thing is that he was sort of an all-rounder (he has a FC triple hundred), and I don't think I can take him on since he bats right handed.

Good suggestion man I opened a separate thread for this though, so I think we should take this there. The only thing is that he was sort of an all-rounder (he has a FC triple hundred), and I don't think I can take him on since he bats right handed.

P.S. Just call me Harsh

Actually Voce and Underwood batted right handed. But I think I see your distinction. Batting wasn't their strong suit but with Foster it was more of a factor in his play. Is that right?